CORRIDOR

CITIES

TRANSITWAY

Yesterday I was reading the Corridor Cities Transitway concept proposed by the Action Committee for Transit, and it addresses at least one of the two flaws in the existing plan. Namely, the current CCT's misguided and minimized route. ACT's suggestion is based more in reality: that what is really needed is a modern transit system that goes beyond Clarksburg.

ACT's route extends to Urbana and Frederick, which would increase connectivity between Montgomery and rapidly-growing Frederick counties.

Still, the CCT in either incarnation would not address the needs of those in the rural areas of the Upcounty. The Purple Line will immediately connect to all of the existing infrastructure downcounty; this infrastructure simply is not in place in the Upcounty.

It could be argued that, for the sake of preserving the Upcounty's green space, we may not want to connect those areas to rail transit - which usually brings increased development near its route.

But in any case, those residents will not be able to get out of their cars because the bus lines don't exist to take them the rest of the way home. And they may never exist, even though Upcounty residents are paying the same taxes as those who have bus and rail transit nearby.

As we modernize our transportation system (and we don't have the forward-thinking elected officials in office yet to do that) we cannot fail to recognize the realities we face - traffic will increase throughout the region and we need modern mass transit to address that. However, we also must continue to make road improvements as well.

One other 270 issue is the stretch which coincides with the local lanes up through Germantown - and happens to be the major bottleneck. There is a way to address that without the CCT or widening so far that houses are demolished, and I am working on my own proposal for that. It's one of many exciting new ideas on which we will work together as citizens to accomplish in the coming years.